Execution (The Divine Book 6) (27 page)

When he followed a second time, I was done.
 

"That's enough," I said, casting out my power and using it to pull him roughly away from her. He fell onto the sidewalk, attracting the attention of some of the pedestrians.

"That counts as an attack," Jane said next to me.

"Is that how you want to play it?" I asked. "The two of you against the two of us?"

"No. I want to help you stop Abaddon."
 

She descended the stairs, grabbing Saul by the arm and saying something to him. He nodded miserably and went into the cathedral.

"Are you okay?" I asked, reaching Alyx.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm proud of myself for not giving in to him."

"I'm proud of you, too. I told you that you're lovely."

"I'm impressed," Jane said, catching up to us. "I didn't think it was possible."

"I told you she has a good heart."

Jane looked Alyx in the eye. "Perhaps you truly do."

We made our way back to my place. Alyx ran while Jane took to the skies, gliding along and easily keeping pace with her. We rejoined the angel on the rooftop, and I brought her down the fire escape and in through the window.

"Rose," I said, entering the apartment. "Anything?"

Zifah and Gervais turned their heads away from the television to check out Jane. I could see the fiend shudder at the sight of an angel.

"You should be careful of the company you keep, diuscrucis," he said.

"Are you talking about yourself?" Zifah asked. He hopped onto the back of the sofa and stared at Jane. "I've never seen a real angel before."

Jane turned to face me. "Landon, your house is full of demons."

"You know what I am," I said.

"I'm not a demon," Rose said, standing up and approaching us. She held her hand out to the angel. "Rose. Nice to meet you."

She took her hand. "Jane." She turned back to me again. "I'll wait outside."

"Hang on a second. Do you have anything?" I asked again.

"The All Blacks are winning 23 to 14," Gervais said.
 

"Actually, I do," Rose said, glaring at the demon. She led me over to her laptop.

"Landon," Jane said, motioning toward the window.

"Can't you deal with them for two minutes?" I asked. "You won't fall for sharing the same space."

"Yeah, toots," Zifah said. "We don't bite. Unless you want me to, that is."

She sighed but stepped closer to Rose.
 

"What do you have?" I asked.

She turned the screen so I could see it. "I've been mapping some random police reports that have been coming in. They've been finding corpses in the street that match Abaddon's MO."

"The street? Like he's just wandering around? If he were out there, he'd be leaving hundreds dead, not single bodies."

"Maybe he's able to contain it? Or maybe sucking some of his power away made him a little less deadly? I don't know. He isn't wandering around. The trail leads right to this building."

She tapped a few keys and zoomed out. I groaned.

"You know it?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's the Solen family's penthouse uptown. Rebecca took Abaddon home."

"She's taking this wife thing a little far, don't you think," Gervais said.

"Does Abaddon even have a penis?" Zifah asked.

"She knows I'll track her down," I said. "She doesn't care. It's a message that she isn't afraid of me." Of course, she didn't know that I had found a means to trap her. I bet that would have changed her plans some. It was a point in our favor. "She should be. We can catch her."

"Ah, now I understand why you brought Ms. Goody-two-shoes," Gervais said.

"It was your plan," I said.

"Landon, what about the sword?" Alyx asked. "Maybe Jane knows how to repair it."

"Sword?" Jane said.

"Abaddon's prison," I said. "They were drawing out his power with a sword. It shattered when he escaped, but I kept the pieces."

I retrieved the bits of metal from where we had left them in the kitchen. "Do you think you can do anything with them?" I asked the angel.

She picked up one of the pieces, her eyes growing wide. "Do you know what this is?"
 

"I already told you, we-"

"Landon, this is Archangel Uriel's sword. It was thought destroyed during the War in Heaven when Lucifer was cast down."

"It steals Divine power."

"Yes. Uriel used it against the fallen angels, taking their power and adding it to his own. It made him nearly invincible. I can't believe it has been here this entire time."

"It's in pieces now."

"It can be fixed, but not here. Only Uriel himself may be able to repair it."

I plucked the shard from her hand. "We won't be letting him do that," I said. "I don't need Uriel coming down here to start powering up again. The question is, can we use it against Abaddon?"

"In this state? No. It is worthless. If it were whole, it might be able to steal enough of his energy to make him manageable."

"It was jabbed into his gut for over a week," I said. "He still seems pretty strong."

"Demons wouldn't be able to draw the power out, only absorb what was absorbed into the blade. It's the difference between touching the surface of the water and submerging yourself in it."

"Do you think I would be able to draw it out?" I asked.

"You should."

"Wouldn't you have to get close enough to stick him with it first?" Rose asked.

"Yes."

"We can worry about that after we get him contained," I said. I handed the pieces of metal back to Alyx, who returned them to the kitchen. "Rebecca knows I know where she is. She's going to assume I'll come for her."

"So how do we catch her if she already knows you're coming?" Jane asked.

"She's expecting me. Maybe even Alyx. She won't be expecting you." I pointed at Zifah. "Or you."

"Me?" Zifah said. "I told you, Landon, I don't want to get involved."

"That's too damn bad," I said. "There's no point in you being here if here is going to go the way of Hell, and that's what's going to happen if you don't help me."

"Look, you're a nice guy, and your girlfriend is hot, and your other friend is even hotter. I don't care if this Rebecca gets into Heaven. It doesn't concern me."

I wanted to strangle Zifah. "It concerns you because if you don't do it, I'm going to kill you."

"Really, Landon?" Zifah said. "You're resorting to-"
 

He started choking as I wrapped my power around his scrawny neck. "I don't like threats, which should tell you how important this is to me. Let's say God lets Rebecca into Heaven. Guess what? Abaddon is still here on Earth."

I let him go. He rubbed at his neck dramatically.
 

"All I need you to do is distract Rebecca and give Jane a chance to swoop in and get her into the trap. You said you were a master sneak."

"Well, of course, I am."

"Then will you do it?"

He growled softly for a few seconds. "Fine. I'll do it. On one condition."

"What's that?"

"I want a steady supply of popcorn."

Demons. "Okay."

"What about me, diuscrucis," Gervais said. "I don't seem to fit into your plans."

"You'll be waiting back in Central Park. We'll bring Rebecca there, and when Abaddon comes, you'll help me get him in the Fist."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, this was your plan, remember? I trust you'll think of something."

"We can call on Dante, too," Rose said.

"I plan on it. It's going to take all of us to get this done. Are you with me?"

I didn't get much of a response from the assembly of angel, demons, mortal, and other.
 

"I said, are you with me?"

"Yes," they said, catching on.

"Pathetic. Are you with me?" I shouted.

"Yes," they shouted back.

"Good. Then let's save the world."

Yeah, it was hokey. But what was wrong with that?

Alyx and I were standing across the street from Rebecca's penthouse three hours later. It had taken a bit of time to fine tune the details of our plan and to get it organized. Rose had called on Dante and filled him in, and everything was supposedly in place. The fact that I was relying on not one, but two demons made me nervous. Very nervous. Especially since one of those demons was Gervais.

Luckily, Rebecca was keeping Abaddon to herself. For the moment at least. I could feel the demon's power, even from the distance, so I knew he was up there. I wondered what they were doing? Playing house, as Zifah had suggested? Who was Rebecca possessing to do it, and how could they survive anything like that?

They were lewd thoughts for another time. Like never.

"How is he not killing everyone in that building?" Alyx asked.

I kept staring at the penthouse. I could see there was a light on up there. "I don't know. Maybe he's learned to control it better? Or maybe Rebecca told him not to kill anyone." I turned my wrist to check the time. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

She looked amazing in a red dress that hugged her athletic form. It flowed to the floor, with slits along the sides to give her legs some clearance to move. I was wearing a tuxedo, looking good in it, if I did say so myself. The charade wasn't for anyone, but the vampires I knew would be guarding the lobby. We had to make it past them and into the elevator without making a scene and giving ourselves away. I could hide Alyx's aura as long as she was close enough to me, giving us the appearance of plain, ordinary, wealthy mortals. The kind that might live in the building below the penthouse. I could hide any aura that was close enough.

"I have to say, this is the best ride I've ever gotten," Zifah said.

He was the reason for the long dress. He had his arms wrapped around Alyx's leg, clinging to the inside of her thigh where he wouldn't be seen. It had to be a dream come true for the little demon to get that close to Alyx's groin.

"Keep your appendages to yourself," Alyx whispered. "Or I will eat you."

"Okay, okay," Zifah said.

My phone vibrated. I didn't need to check it. "That's the signal."

We made our way across the street. I kept my arm around Alyx's shoulder, holding her close and playing it that we were a little bit drunk and amorous. We paused a few times to share an overly passionate kiss, and it was all I could do to stay focused on the task instead of falling apart at the taste of her.

"Good evening Jeeves," I said, reaching the front of the building. The doorman was a were though none of the mortals around would know it.

He sniffed me quickly, not picking up Alyx's composition through a strategic scent of booze and perfume.
 

"Good evening, sir," he replied, opening the door for us.

We had cleared the first hurdle.

We strolled into the lobby, continuing our facade of drunken laughter, embraces, and nearly pornographic kissing. There was a part of me that wanted to save and savor it for the bedroom. It was an important part of the mission, and I wasn't one to shy away from doing what needed to be done.

We made our way past two vampire bellhops and another vamp guard who had the black teeth of one who had drank from Abaddon's fountain, reaching the elevator banks by drawing a lot of the right kind of attention. People looked at us out of the corner of their eyes, embarrassed and curious at the display. They probably thought we were a pair of celebrities the way we were carrying on, left to wonder if the paparazzi had taken a day off, or fallen asleep.

I pushed Alyx against the wall, kissing her while my hand found the button to go up. She growled softly against me, her teeth catching my lip and biting tenderly, her tongue tracing the flesh.

"I'm ready to forget about Abaddon," she whispered in my ear.

I swallowed hard. Maybe this hadn't been the best approach? "Stay focused."

"I'm focused on you."

"I know. Stay focused on the mission."

She giggled softly beneath my kiss. "I love you."

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. There were five other people waiting to go up, but when I turned Alyx into the car and shoved her back against the wall, and she wrapped one of her legs around me, they decided to wait for the next one.